Nepal's hospitals stretched to their limit

Away from Kathmandu, casualties in Chautara continue to pour in from the surrounding villages. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Kathmandu, Nepal - Every night for more than a week ambulance sirens and helicopter engines have disrupted the streets of Nepal's capital city bringing in earthquake victims from far flung areas of rural Nepal.

At one of the two main hospitals in Kathmandu, Bir Hospital, the medical staff are stretched to their limits. Doctors work 24-hour shifts, nurses are on 12-hour shifts.

Foreign volunteers from various countries assist the local Nepalese and provide a helping hand in the overall functioning of the hospitals during these tough times. They are everywhere from the trauma centre to the help-desk at the entrance and even supporting doctors during surgeries.

In Chautara, 80km from Kathmandu - a four-hour drive - at the centre of the worst affected Sindhupalchowk district, people wait at hastily pitched tents of aid organisations to be evacuated to Kathmandu.

Eight-year-old Sabila Dahal is brought in from rural Nepal's Kavre district. She has a skull fracture and lies next to a teddy bear inside Bir Hospital as her grandfather comforts her. She is one of thousands of earthquake victims.

The number of dead in Nepal's devastating earthquake of April 25 has crossed 7,000. Only now have the casualties started coming in from rural areas.

Chautara, in Sindhupalchowk district is one of the worst hit areas of Nepal. The casualties get immediate aid at a mobile medical camp. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

People wait for evacuation to Kathmandu at a medical camp in Chautara. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Nepalese army personnel help an injured victim to safety in Chautara - a four hour drive from Kathmandu on a good day. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Lacking medical aid at their villages, the injured have been evacuated to the Medical College and Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Doctors at a trauma centre examine X-rays of a new casualty arrival in Kathmandu. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Doctors, nurses, and medical volunteers crowd around to help a victim of the Nepal earthquake at Bir Hospital trauma centre. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

A family member waits for news of a close relative at the operation theatre at a hospital in Kathmandu. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Eight-year-old Sabila Dahal from Kavre district is given medical aid at the hospital in Kathmandu. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

Sabila Dahal rests after being moved to hospital in Kathmandu from Kavre. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

An Italian trekker evacuated by air from a remote area sits with her broken arm in a makeshift splint at the emergency wing of Bir Hospital in Kathmandu. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

In the old wing of Kathmandu's Bir Hospital, a man sits forlorn on a wheelchair. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

The Nepalese Reserve Police assist the overburdened medical staff at the Medical College and Teaching Hospital. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]

The post-operation area at a local hospital in Kathmandu is inundated with the victims of the earthquake. [Vivek Singh/Al Jazeera]